Tyrant HIM had fought plenty of battles with a huge difference in troop numbers, and he had also won quite a few where he used fewer troops to defeat many.
But the one Tyrant HIM and Annoying Village HIM were about to face next was not some ordinary person, but Xu Yuan.
Although Tyrant HIM didn't know Xu Yuan particularly well, he had previously learned from Pocolo about Xu Yuan's various deeds in this world.
Every time Pocolo talked about Xu Yuan's deeds, he would sincerely praise Xu Yuan's strategy.
Because of this, Tyrant HIM at this moment had no confidence.
If the combined forces of Tyrant HIM and Annoying Village HIM were more than Xu Yuan's, Tyrant HIM might still feel that there was at least some chance to fight.
The key was that their combined forces right now were not as many as Xu Yuan's.
And Tyrant HIM's troops were made up of a monster army. Even if they were fully armed, they were still nothing more than mindless monsters.
No matter what, these mindless monsters could never compare to those conscious living beings.
Not to mention that Xu Yuan had long been trading with villagers, the conscious beings under Xu Yuan's command were probably already fully armed as well.
They didn't have the advantage in numbers, nor in equipment. How were they supposed to fight like this?
———
Seeing Tyrant HIM's face full of worry, Annoying Village HIM couldn't help shaking his head. After letting out a helpless sigh, he looked at Tyrant HIM and asked, "Do you still remember the mission you got when you first entered the Trial Grounds?"
Although Tyrant HIM didn't know why Annoying Village HIM suddenly asked this question, he still lowered his gaze to recall for a moment, then replied.
"To maintain the peace of the entire Trial Grounds?"
Annoying Village HIM nodded, then continued. "Earlier, when we were in the waiting room, you should've noticed too."
"The Trial Grounds have gone on for so long, but compared to the beginning, the number of participants hasn't decreased much."
Hearing Annoying Village HIM's words, Tyrant HIM nodded in agreement.
"Mm, I asked the people under me. Their missions are mostly to survive in the Trial Grounds."
"So everyone is very cautious, trying their best to avoid the outbreak of war."
Seeing Tyrant HIM talking for so long without touching the main point, Annoying Village HIM couldn't help feeling speechless. He silently sighed in his heart.
'Why is his brain sometimes good and sometimes bad…?'
Seeing that Tyrant HIM didn't catch the important part of what he said, Annoying Village HIM stopped beating around the bush and explained directly.
"Xu Yuan resolved the conflict between villagers and Calamity villagers, and resolved the conflict between the native living beings of this world and the players."
"When he did these things, he never used force, nor did any war break out."
"This shows that he has always been upholding the idea of maintaining peace in the Trial Grounds."
After speaking, Annoying Village HIM looked at Tyrant HIM. Although he didn't continue explaining, his face was clearly saying, "You should get it now, right?"
Seeing Annoying Village HIM's expression, Tyrant HIM was already sweating.
He really didn't follow Annoying Village HIM's train of thought, mainly because he wasn't someone who thought in circles. Whatever came to mind, he said directly.
But Annoying Village HIM was clearly not that kind of person. His communication style was more similar to Xu Yuan's, he didn't like to explain everything clearly, preferring to hint at things instead.
Tyrant HIM and Annoying Village HIM had completely different ways of thinking, so both of them found it tiring to communicate.
Tyrant HIM nodded half-understandingly, then fell into deep thought. Clearly, he still didn't understand.
Seeing Tyrant HIM's expression, Annoying Village HIM was almost amused to anger.
'Talking to him is really exhausting…' Seeing this, Annoying Village HIM let out a long sigh. He thought for a moment.
After quickly organizing his thoughts into something Tyrant HIM could understand, he spoke simply and clearly.
"His goal is to maintain peace in the entire Trial Grounds."
"So, even though he has such powerful forces, he won't proactively attack us."
"In other words, even if we take the initiative to attack him, he still won't immediately use force to crush us."
"So we don't need to worry at all about his troops overwhelming ours."
Annoying Village HIM had explained clearly enough, and at this moment, Tyrant HIM finally understood what he meant.
He immediately showed an expression of sudden realization, and just as he was about to excitedly express his thoughts, Annoying Village HIM cut him off.
"The entire Trial Grounds looks like a war between different camps, but in reality it isn't."
"Because the true purpose of the Trial Grounds is to let more people survive."
"If the camps break out into war, there will definitely be a huge number of casualties. Even if one side eventually wins overwhelmingly, they would only be the winner of the war, not the winner of the Trial Grounds. That side would most likely fail to win the Trial Grounds."
"So the essence of the Trial Grounds is actually a competition between the leaders of each camp."
Hearing Annoying Village HIM's words, Tyrant HIM quickly nodded again, chiming in.
"Mm, after all, our missions are all to maintain the peace of the entire Trial Grounds."
Seeing this, Annoying Village HIM nodded and continued.
"From the looks of it now, the Trial Grounds most likely only has three camps left, me, you, and Xu Yuan."
"So next, it's a war between the three of us."
After saying this, he paused for a moment and corrected himself.
"To be precise, what comes next is a war between us and Xu Yuan."
"Since it's a war between the three of us, then things aren't that complicated."
"Xu Yuan won't easily use his troops to suppress us. Judging from his previous strategy of mediating hatred between the camps…"
"He will probably choose to negotiate with us first."
At this point, Annoying Village HIM already showed a look of complete confidence. He looked at Tyrant HIM again, a sly smile flashing in his eyes.
"When that time comes, what we need to do is to talk with him one. On. One."
Annoying Village HIM, worried Tyrant HIM might not understand, deliberately emphasized the words "one on one."
Hearing Annoying Village HIM's words, Tyrant HIM finally understood his plan.
"Two against one."
Hearing Tyrant HIM say this, Annoying Village HIM nodded and smiled.
"So our advantage is actually pretty big."
"As for the troops we have…"
"They don't need to fight the entire Xu Yuan camp."
"They only need to deal with those who still remain loyal to Xu Yuan after we send Xu Yuan out of the Trial Grounds."
Saying this, Annoying Village HIM shrugged and smiled.
"How many of those people could there even be?"
[T/N: I have continued all the novels that were paused due to account being susp*nded, in a new account. All the reason and such are in disc0rd with the l!nks to new novels as well. I have also pinned one of the books below, in this chapter, so that you can access others through that account.]